Doja Cat’s ‘Vie’: Pop, Rap, and 80s Remix

Doja Cat's 'Vie' blends pop, rap, and 80s influences, showcasing her versatility. With Antonoff's touch, she navigates retro sounds while staying true to her style. 'Vie' redefines 80s pop, emphasizing Doja's evolution.

Much of “Vie” is interested in partnership characteristics, whether it’s luring a man on the dancing flooring on the plucky “Cards” or wondering if she’s been cuffed yet on the dreamlike “Acts of Service” (” I just erased Raya, that must mean that I’m your carrier”). On album standout “Unfamiliar person,” she’s doe-eyed, sweeping between attractive come-ons and honest admissions: “Girls can’t tell that he fine off rip/ ‘Cause he do not resemble he like cock/ But if he liked it I would certainly still like him/ As a fanatic I can admit that and he likes it.”

Just a few months before she launched her last album “Scarlet,” an intense reply to her even more sleek pop, she referred to her innovation record “Hot Pink” and its successor “World Her” as “cash grabs” and “sub-par pop,” teasing her fans by saying they “dropped for it.”

“Jealous Type,” the cd’s lead single, was an appropriate table-setter for “Vie.” Generated by the ever-chameleonic Jack Antonoff and Y2K, the funk-popped tune was promptly flagged as a Track of Summer competitor by the Web, that grumbled that it would have been the victor had it not been launched so late in the season. The exact same might be stated for much of “Vie,” which suggestions its hat to every person from Prince and Janet Jackson to Pebbles and Lisa & Cult Jam. Throughout the cd’s 15 tracks, Doja cruises across Day-Glo synths and cavernous drum sounds, stacking vocals for electric choruses and verses so snappy that it makes you question why she ever disavowed a retro-leaning tune like “State So” to begin with.

Eclectic Influences in ‘Vie’

“Vie” can quickly cause whiplash as Doja cuts rap knowledgeables right into pop songs, yet it does not really feel like patchwork.

“Vie” could quickly cause whiplash as Doja cuts rap knowledgeables into pop tunes, yet it does not seem like jumble. Doja is a gifted vocalist and rap artist, 2 abilities that couple of have mastered at this degree, and she weds her globes with complete command. By the time she gets to the cd’s concluding track “Come Back,” there’s no question that she’s truly made her area on top of the pop-rap pecking order, striking a fragile balance that calls for scope and accuracy.

Doja has a clear admiration for ’80s touchstones– her Marc Jacobs pinstripe bodysuit and plume of hair on the Met Gala rug introduced this age in proper fashion– and she infuses them into “Vie” like she’s robbing a vintage shop. If they’re openly flogging the notion of pastiche, the cd both begins and finishes with bleating saxophones as. And yet, Doja continuously taps the well while adjusting it to her very own visual, moving fluidly in between sweet consistencies and active raps in classic Doja type.

Antonoff’s 80s Touch

Antonoff is a crucial ingredient for “Vie,” producing on nine of the tracks, and it’s not a surprise that they’re the ones that adhere most to an ’80s noise. Antonoff is a studio professional in the purest sense, and every instrument is duration details, from the scrunchy underwater synths that introduce “Take Me Dancing” including SZA (the collection’s only visitor) to the 1982 “Knight Biker” theme song that’s turned for the propulsive “AAAHH GUYS!” Naturally, recommendations abound; it’s hard not to attract comparisons to Jody Watley’s “Looking for a New Love” on “Dance” or Jackson’s “Control,” which feels like a general plan for “Vie.” The album only sheds its momentum when Antonoff go back, namely on the sultry “Make It Up” where she caters to her man with a caveat: “Did you become aware of it? I’m a passive top.”

There’s a great deal of that on “Vie,” a document that strengthens that Doja doesn’t require to suit one box to become the artist she’s indicated to be. It’s a notion that she herself seems to have actually concerned terms with, however attempting (or public) it might have been, and “Vie” is all the much better for it.

Doja Cat’s Artistic Evolution

In the past, Doja Feline has had a complicated relationship with what kind of musician she is and what kind of songs she should make. Nearly a year to day after launching her very first No. 1 hit “Claim So,” she tweeted that she was “weary” of it. Simply a couple of months prior to she released her last cd “Scarlet,” a fiery answer to her more refined pop, she referred to her breakthrough record “Hot Pink” and its successor “World Her” as “money grabs” and “sub-par pop,” teasing her followers by saying they “succumbed to it.”

“Vie” is a development of Doja’s solid suits as both a songwriter and performer at liberty to toy with the remnants of pop’s past, making for a record that reframes the conventions of 1980s pop without shedding herself in the process.

‘Vie’: Balancing Pop and Rap

Throughout the cd’s 15 tracks, Doja cruises across Day-Glo synths and spacious drum audios, stacking vocals for electrical carolers and verses so snappy that it makes you question why she ever disavowed a retro-leaning track like “Claim So” in the initial place.

On “Vie,” her fifth cd, she shows up to have discovered some kind of innovative balance. This past weekend, she told CBS Sunday Early morning that she’s “a rapper that makes pop music,” a tidy summation that offers her musical guardrails with pivot area. “Vie” is an evolution of Doja’s solid matches as both a songwriter and performer at freedom to plaything with the vestiges of pop’s past, making for a record that reframes the conventions of 1980s pop without shedding herself in the process.